London apartment prices eclipse rest of Europe Published: 17/07/2008

The average cost of an apartment in London measuring 120 square feet currently weighs in at £1,188,240, far outstripping any other capital in Europe.

This is according to calculations by uSwitch.com, which show that the typical price per square foot for a house for sale in London is £9,902.

Paris is the English capital's nearest rival, with an average price per square foot of £6,947, meaning that anyone buying an 120 square foot flat can expect to pay £833,631.

Prices elsewhere is Europe pale in comparison, with Rome, Madrid and Copenhagen vying for third place, with average square footage costs of £3,843, £3,632 and £3,576 respectively.

In the Irish capital Dublin, the typical cost per square foot is £2,074, less than a quarter of the price in London, meaning that an apartment measuring 120 square foot usually costs around £233,721.

The uSwitch.com calculations form part of a quality of life index taking into account income, hours of sunshine, retirement age, life expectancy, health and education spending, as well as the cost of fuel and food.

The survey of ten European nations, including Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Poland, places the UK in ninth place, ahead of only Ireland.

Though the typical British citizen can expect to be paid considerably more than most neighbours on the continent and be taxed substantially less, the cost of living is higher and most working lives are much longer.

"We may earn substantially more than our European neighbours but, when it comes to quality of life, we remain the 'sick man of Europe'," insists Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com.

Though petrol prices in the UK may only be surpassed by Sweden, the cost of food is surprising low. For a typical basket of everyday goods, only the Netherlands is notably cheaper, while costs are marginally lower in Poland and Germany.

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